Geeky News for Lawyers

Doug Rice is presenting about Markdown at Milofest. One of the great tips was using the Copy as Markdown extension in Google Chrome.

Copy as Markdown not only lets you copy a link and page title as Markdown, but also lets you copy ALL OPEN TABS as Markdown. Ever wanted to publish a list of sites? For example when you are out of ideas for what to blog about. So you decide to do a “rundown” of other people’s articles and blog posts, just open up the sites. Click the plug in and you have just copied all urls and titles in markdown format. Then click paste in your editor….

You may have heard lawyers talking about Markdown and how it is making blogging easier. So what is Markdown?

Markdown is a text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers. Markdown allows you to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid XHTML (or HTML).

Say what? In short, Markdown lets you write and format text for the web at the same time, while still using plaintext files. Here are the main benefits of Markdown.

Markdown is Portable and Makes the Round-Trip

I want to write where ever and whenever an idea hits.

At the office.

At home.

Out with my iPad.

Or in bed with my iPhone on the nightstand.

I want to be able to add or change drafted articles and start working on new posts.

Beyond this, I don’t want to have to think about moving drafts between systems,I just want them to BE THERE. And that’s where Markdown earns its keep. Since text formatted with Markdown text is just simple plain text you can edit it on a portable device and have it synced to your desktop and other devices. And the formatting is preserved because it is just plaintext. Read the rest of this entry »

100Tips is Tomasz Stasiuk’s diary, journal, and escape from his attempt to write a book on 100 Social Security Hearing Tips in 100 days. You can read all the posts here.

Resistance Watch

Today was about contact lenses and a discrete bag for the Macbook Air. Mostly.

I think of myself as being decisive. When I decide to do something, I usually do it. I thought about getting contact lenses again (for the first time since ~1991) over the weekend, when the family went up to Indian Hot Springs. Going blurry while swimming pretty much sucks, although it also makes you less self-conscious in a swim suit. This is the opposite of calming yourself before a speech by imagining your audience naked. Here, if I can’t see other bathers, I feel much more confident that they cannot get a good look at me. Folly obviously, but it works surprisingly well.

So, for a good part of today, I was researching how contact lens have changed over 20 years (back then, they were made out wood dont-ya-know), figuring out associated costs and brand differences.

Getting back to point, being decisive may be a nice way of describing this. Another way would be “flighty.”

Beyond that was a trip to the Apple store to find a discrete bag for my 13″ MacBook Air. Yesterday, I was typing a couple of articles my iPad while the kids played at the park. I can manage writing on an iPad. However, because of the lack of multitasking, finding and copying urls is more trouble than it should be. So, I want to find a small bag to carry the Air in when working on the book. The theory being that being able to prior articles from my disability blog would make writing easier.

I also…

Tried to figure out whether Scrivener accepts Markdown out of the box or whether I have configure it in some way.

Ran “Software Update” on multiple systems.

And, checked to see in “ImpendingDoom” is available as a Twitter account, since making people get emails that say “ImpendingDoom is now following you” amuses me. It is taken.

Starting June 1st, I am starting a writing project in my practice area, Social Security disability. I will be writing a book covering 100 Hearing Tips – published directly onto Kindle with a paper option through an on demand publisher. I am also shooting for 100 tips in 100 days. I know, it’s ambitious.

I have been researching and learning Mac apps to make this a doable goal. I have been using nvAlt for initial notes (synced via Simplenote to let me work on various devices). The actual organization will be done in Scrivener. I have recently become a Markdown convert — I have several articles coming up on Markdown for lawyers. I am looking at Lulu for the on demand physical copy and inclusion into Amazon.

This should be an interesting process. I will be posting here about works and what doesn’t; the ups and the downs. Frankly this endeavor has me equally excited and scared. If I fail, it will be a public failure; even if the only person I disappoint is myself.